


Salt in the Wound

by Laimelde



Category: NCIS
Genre: F/M, Jeanne has to look after him, Tony gets injured, and gets a glimpse into Tony's real life in the process
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-24
Updated: 2014-08-24
Packaged: 2018-02-14 12:18:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2191560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laimelde/pseuds/Laimelde
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Several years after the events of Internal Affairs, Dr Jeanne Benoit is working at Bethesda Hospital when Tony is admitted as a patient. Can she stay civil and handle being his doctor? Not a get-together fic, reference to past relationship only. Spoilers for Bury Your Dead and Internal Affairs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've seen a small number of other fics based on 'What happens when Jeanne and Tony run into each other again, years later?', but none seemed to make use of the obvious fact that she's a doctor and he works in a dangerous occupation. So I had to write this. 
> 
> SPOILERS: for Bury Your Dead and Internal Affairs (Season 5). 
> 
> WARNINGS: nothing unless fairly mild descriptions of burns injuries are enough to make you queasy. 
> 
> This story is set several years after we last see Jeanne in Internal Affairs (season 5) and is entirely in her POV, except for the prologue (which is confusingly added at the end: see the note on that page).

The call about the bomb blast had come in minutes ago and the emergency team at Bethesda was waiting when the ambulance arrived. Dr Jeanne Benoit listened as the paramedics rattled off details of the first patient's injuries even as he was wheeled unconscious into the building. The major concerns were severe burns across the back and arms caused by his clothing catching fire, a clearly broken arm and signs of concussion. There was also the possibility of other skeletal or internal damage from the force of the blast, and his blood pressure had started to drop as they were arriving, so he was probably going into shock.

Dr Benoit took charge, ordering an IV to help get his blood pressure back up and sending someone ahead to prep the X-ray department - the sooner they could check for any invisible damage the better. She ensured others were sent to fetch a solution to be placed on the burns. It was only as she started to help remove the oxygen mask and replace it with a nasal cannula that she saw the man's face properly, and stopped.

"Doctor?" asked one of the nurses. "Everything alright?"

She mentally shook herself. "Yes, yes of course. Let's see if we can wake him up." She finished attaching the nasal cannula and noted some minor burns across his forehead and cheek. "Tony! Tony! Can you hear me? We need you to wake up. Can you open your eyes for me?" No response.

"Blood pressure stabilising," observed one of the nurses.

Jeanne gave Tony a few firm taps on the unburned cheek. "Tony!"

Tony groaned and tried to move his head away. Some response was better than nothing, even if he didn't properly wake up. Another nurse returned and advised that X-Ray had been cleared for the patient, and since Tony seemed stable, Jeanne sent him straight away. She stopped outside the room, letting the department staff take over for the moment.

"Dr Benoit?"

She turned. "Yes, Michelle?"

"You know that guy?"

She paused. "In a manner of speaking." She saw the confused look on the nurse's face and tried to figure out the simplest way of putting it. "I guess you could say he's an old boyfriend."

"Bad breakup?"

"You have no idea."

Michelle wisely chose not to pursue the subject any further. They headed back to emergency where a second ambulance was pulling up, much more sedately. The paramedics brought out a small boy and reported that he had minor burns. A woman hovering over him was clearly his mother. Jeanne looked him over and gave instructions to the nurses, but the boy's burns were minor and he had no other injuries.

As she was finishing up, a girl dressed all in black with knee-high boots came hurrying in and approached the first person she saw.

"Oh my god, where's Tony? Is he ok? Please tell me he's ok!"

Jeanne walked over and stepped in for the stunned nurse. "You're looking for Tony DiNozzo?"

"Yes, where is he? I have to see him!"

"He's in X-Ray. Are you his, uh, girlfriend?" Jeanne couldn't believe the goth standing in front of her could be, but then she never knew the real Tony, did she?

"What, me?" Abby laughed. "No, I love him, but Tony's like my brother. So he's ok, right?"

Jeanne sighed. They always expected you to have all the answers on the spot. "We don't really know yet. Are you family? Because I'm not permitted to tell you anything if you're not."

Abby's face fell. "Well, no. Although, you probably won't be able to get hold of his father. And Gibbs is his medical proxy, but I think he's going to be busy down at the crime scene for a long while yet."

Gibbs? Tony's boss was his medical proxy? "Well I'm afraid until either a member of his family or his proxy gets here, you'll have to wait in the visitor's room like everyone else. If you can get one of them here you'll be able to hear the news a lot sooner, since I'll be able to fill them in."

For a moment it looked like the gothic girl was going to argue, but then her shoulders dropped. "Fine. I'll tell Gibbs you're holding out on me." She turned and moodily walked away. Jeanne watched her go then returned to X-ray in time to meet the radiologist.

"What are we looking at, Dr Michaels?"

"The arm is badly broken, definitely needs surgery, possibly a couple of pins. We've taken scans of his whole body, and I'm going to have to go over them with a fine tooth comb to be sure there aren't any fractures I've missed, but there are no other major breaks and no signs of internal bleeding. However, there's an awful lot of old scars. Looks like he makes a habit of breaking bones. Did I hear right - you know this man?"

She shook her head. "Not well enough to know his medical history."

"Right, well you might want to look it up," Dr Michaels advised. "Particularly check for any history of respiratory illness - his lungs are more scarred than a lifetime smoker's."

Jeanne wasn't sure what to make of that, as she joined the nurses wheeling Tony back out to trauma. She'd never known Tony to smoke. She checked his vitals and made some notes on the chart before sending one of the nurses to schedule him for surgery on his arm. Then she moved to his side again.

"Tony, we need to you wake up now. Enough sleep. Come on, wake up for me." The red marks on his face were becoming more defined now. She sent another nurse to fetch some more burns cream, then leaned over to tap his face again. "Tony! Wake up!"

She was taken by surprise when he did jolt awake. "Sorry Boss! I wasn't sleeping!" She almost laughed at the look on his face when he realised he wasn't at work. He was having trouble focussing though, and couldn't see her properly.

"Tony, do you know where you are?"

He groaned. "Hospital, probably Bethesda. Oh god, what happened to Jonah? Where is he? Is he okay?"

"Jonah?" she asked.

"The little boy that came in just after him," the nurse beside her filled in.

"Oh, he's fine. Some minor burns, we'll send him home with some cream."

Tony relaxed with a sigh, then seemed to pause in his thoughts. He squinted at her.

"Jeanne?"

"That's Dr Benoit to you," she said shortly. "I'm going to shine a light in your eyes now, Tony."

"I thought you were in Europe," said Tony lazily. "I wouldn't worry - the concussion is only mild." The morphine in his IV drip is obviously having an effect, Jeanne thought.

"You're an expert, are you?"

"Yep," he grinned, closing his eyes again as soon as she finished. "I hold the records - most concussions total, most concussions in a calendar month - you obviously haven't seen my file yet."

"Not yet," she admitted. "What's up with your lungs?"

Tony frowned and took a deep breath. "Nothing, they feel fine."

"They're scarred."

"Oh, that. I'm over that. You can read about it in my file if you want." Tony was drifting off to sleep again. The nurse beside Jeanne moved to wake him back up, but then Michelle approached, reporting that the surgeon would be available to fix Tony's arm in ten minutes. Jeanne nodded and asked them to prep him, and went to find Tony's file.

* * *

She spent nearly half an hour flicking through Tony's considerable medical file. It was a wonder he didn't know all the emergency staff by name. He'd been blown up, shot, cut and injured in a multitude of ways on a regular basis for years. She'd read about the biological attack and his encounter with the pneumonic plague - and shuddered at even the clinical descriptions of what it had done to him. It had to have been a type of living hell, and Tony had never even hinted at lung problems the whole time she'd been with him. She even knew for a fact that he liked to go for a run most mornings. It must have taken a lot of hard work and dedication to reach that point again after beating such severe respiratory illness.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a nurse leading Gibbs over.

"You're treating DiNozzo?" he asked. Then realised who she was. "Jeanne Benoit? Last we heard, you were overseas." He appeared to be studying her.

Jeanne scowled. Was everyone keeping tabs on her? She decided to be professional and not get bogged down in history. "Tony's in surgery right now. Badly broken arm, possibly needs to be pinned; the surgeon will let us know when he's done. Second degree burns over most of his back -I'm told his clothes caught fire. Minor burns elsewhere, including his face, and a mild concussion."

"And the child?"

"Is fine - just some minor burns, we won't even keep him overnight."

Gibbs nodded. "When can we see DiNozzo?"

"As soon as he's out of surgery, you as his proxy and any family members can visit him in the recovery room. Other visitors will have to wait until he's been assigned a room in a ward."

"Just me then," said Gibbs. "Tony doesn't have close family." Jeanne was surprised at that - the Tony DiNardo she'd known hadn't had any family either, but she'd since assumed that was just a part of his false identity.

"His file says his father's still alive," she commented.

"Yeah, but he's rarely around." Gibbs stepped back. "I'd better go let everyone know how he is - I'll be waiting in the visitor's room when he gets out."

Jeanne watched as he walked away. If Gibbs - knowing the full history between herself and Tony as he seemed to, had any doubts about Jeanne treating him, he didn't show it. After a minute, curiosity got the better of her. If Tony had no close family, then who was the 'everyone' that Gibbs needed to speak to? She made her way down the hall to the visitors waiting room, arriving in time to see Gibbs reach a group of people waiting on the far side. The goth girl she'd met earlier jumped up from her seat and enveloped Gibbs in a hug. Another woman and three other men stood also. The woman looked vaguely familiar - Jeanne suspected it was probably the same woman she had briefly seen with Tony at his work, the last time she'd ever seen him. She was wearing the same black NCIS jacket as Gibbs, and so was a third man - more of Tony's fellow agents, she assumed. The other two men - one fairly young, one much older, were in plain clothes.

The group huddled around. She couldn't hear the words but they were obviously worried and eager to hear any news. The older man asked some questions, and from Gibb's body language, they were questions he didn't know the answers to. Jeanne observed them a moment longer before heading back to her work. When Tony got out of surgery, she'd assign him to a ward, and then he'd be out of her hands.

* * *

Much to her chagrin, Jeanne arrived at work the next day to find that she had been re-assigned to a ward instead of the emergency department. And naturally, it was the ward Tony was in. She'd tried to discuss the matter with the supervisor in charge, but as the temporary fill-in doctor on staff she didn't hold much sway and was told to simply 'put her personal issues aside and be professional'.

Which she fully intended to do. She _was_ a professional, after all. She would treat Tony well, get him discharged once he was healed enough, and that would be the end of it. In a few months when her temp contract ended, she'd find another hospital to work at, so this didn't happen again.

When she arrived on the ward, she noticed Tony already had company - the older man from the group she seen the night before. One of the ward nurses commented that Tony's friends had been around constantly - the whole group had come to see him in the ward the previous evening, and his medical proxy had even spent the night, sleeping in the hard plastic chair beside Tony's bed. Jeanne was surprised - that wasn't usual behaviour for a boss. Then two of the group had been back again this morning, before his current visitor had arrived and sent the others away.

Jeanne focussed on doing her rounds, checking the charts of each patient in the ward and speaking to each one about their respective health. She left Tony until last. Not that she was avoiding him, she told herself. She just wanted to have her full attention on the patients she was seeing, and not be distracted by anything Tony might or might not say when she did check on him. Hopefully, he wouldn't bring anything up, or try to start some sort of heart-to-heart conversation. She wanted to be just his doctor and nothing more.

Eventually though, all the other patients had been seen to, and nothing urgent had come up needing her attention. She flicked through Tony's chart, noting the pain medication and several re-applications of burn cream the nurses had given him overnight. She approached Tony's room but paused outside when she heard voices.

"...remember this time in Kiev when it turned out two agents, both working undercover for different agencies, turned out to be lovers, and neither of them knew the other was an agent. Then they were each assigned to take out the other-"

"Oh come on, Ducky!" Tony laughed. "That's _Mr & Mrs Smith_."

"What is?"

"That story. You stole it from the movie."

"They made it into a movie?" The older man sounded genuinely surprised. "Well I suppose it is quite a riveting tale. It was the talk of agencies all over the world when word got out. Of course, this was decades ago now."

Jeanne entered the room and the conversation paused. She nodded politely to Tony's visitor, who was sitting in the chair on the far side of the bed. Tony was sitting up, not wanting to lay on his burnt back, and with his plastered arm propped up on pillows.

"Dr Benoit," said Tony evenly, and she was pleasantly surprised that he'd remembered her request to not call her by her first name. "This is Dr Mallard."

The man stood up and offered his hand. "Please, call me Ducky."

She shook his hand. "Are you Tony's usual doctor?"

Ducky laughed. "Well, in a manner of speaking, I suppose. I do tend to most of his relatively minor injuries."

"You know, Ducky," Tony interjected. "You don't have to sit with me. I'll be fine if you have to get back to work."

"Ah, but I don't." He smiled at Jeanne. "Thanks to Anthony, I don't have any patients to see to right now."

Tony took pity on the confused look on Jeanne's face. "Ducky is the medical examiner. He means no one died yesterday."

"Thanks to you, my boy, all thanks to you," said Ducky, patting Tony's blanketed feet affectionately. "Judging by the photos Timothy took at the scene, I might have had quite a few guests today if you hadn't cleared the area so quickly."

Tony laughed it off. "Well, you know me Ducky. Any excuse to jump on cars and yell at people."

"You know, I'm pretty sure Jethro is planning to speak to the Director about a commendation."

Tony groaned. "He's not, is he?"

Ducky chuckled. "It'll make a change for one of those medals in your drawer to have your name on it, hmm? And you certainly deserve it, after that daring rescue."

"Rescue?" asked Jeanne. Tony shrugged and turned to look out the window, feigning disinterest.

"A little boy ran into the building with the live bomb," Ducky explained. "Anthony risked his life searching for him. I believe they had almost made it out again when the bomb exploded. When they found him he was huddled over the boy like a shield."

"Oh." Jeanne didn't want to admit it, and she certainly wouldn't show it, but she was impressed. That took guts.

Ducky shook his head at Tony's reaction. "I'll just go fetch a coffee, back in a minute."

Jeanne and Tony watched Ducky walk away before turning back to look at each other. There was a brief awkward pause.

"What did he mean about the medals not having your name on them?"

Tony smiled. "My boss gets commendations and awards for his work almost every year. He hates it - thinks he shouldn't be rewarded for just doing his job. So he always avoids the ceremony, and I always accept them on his behalf."

Oh. She wondered how long Gibbs and Tony had been working together. It sounded like a long time. She glanced down at the clipboard in her hands and remembered why she was there.

"So, how's the pain been? Can you rate it between one and ten?"

He thought for a moment. "My back, probably a seven, all the time. My arm, the pain comes and goes, varying between say, five and nine."

"And the nines are when you've asked for relief?"

He nodded. "It woke me up a few times, and Gibbs made me call the duty nurse." He punctuated the sentence with rolled eyes.

"Any other pain?"

Tony shook his head. "Mild headache, and some other aches in various places. I think there'll be a few bruises about too, but nothing more specific."

She nodded. "I've got the surgeon's report about your arm here, he managed to avoid using pins, but it was a bad break so six weeks with the cast, and then it's going to require a lot rehabilitation to get it back up to proper strength. The hospital will set up appointments with a physical therapist for you when that time comes." She glanced up to see his nodded response but the weight of his focus on her was unnerving. She looked back down at the chart. "The burns on your back concern us more right now, since they will likely blister, and the blisters will make you vulnerable to infection. The gel we've been applying will speed the healing and prevent infection, but it'll have to be reapplied regularly."

She looked up when he didn't respond, to find him watching her intently. "How've you been?" he asked softly. "You look well."

The sudden change of topic threw her off. She mentally stumbled for a moment before pulling herself together and scowling. "We're not here to talk about me. Did you have any other questions about yourself, before I go?" Out of the corner of her eye she saw Ducky returning, steaming foam cup in hand.

Tony sighed. "Yeah, how soon can I get out of here?"

She glanced at his chart again. "You'll need to stay at least one more day, for observation. Then you can go home - _if_ you have someone at home who can see to your burns every few hours. Otherwise you'll have to stay another week or so."

His face fell and for a moment she took secret delight in knowing he didn't have anyone waiting at home.

"I'm sure we can work something out, Anthony," said Ducky from the doorway. "We can talk to Jethro when he gets back."

Tony huffed out a laugh. "Don't think the boss will be letting me stay with him again, Ducky. He swore that off after the first time."

"Nonsense, that was years ago. You just leave him to me," Ducky insisted, a knowing smile on his face. He crossed the room and sat down again, sipping his coffee.

"Anything else you need?" Jeanne asked.

"Sorry, I hope I'm not interrupting?" asked a new voice from the door.

"Ziva!" said Tony happily. "How sweet, taking time off work just to see me. Did you bring me lunch?"

"Yes, Tony, just as you ordered," Ziva grumbled in mock irritation. "But I am not off work. Gibbs sent me to get your version of what happened yesterday."

Tony frowned. "But I can't write." He indicated his plastered arm.

"Tony, you're right-handed. Your left arm is the broken one," Ziva pointed out. Tony grinned sheepishly. "In any case, you can dictate and I will make notes for now. Your own proper report can wait, Gibbs just wants to know how it all went out."

"Went down," Tony corrected automatically. Ziva shrugged, threw a burrito on Tony's lap and crossed the room to the second chair.

Jeanne took the opportunity to move towards the door. "If you need anything else, you know where the buzzer is." Tony quickly sobered and regarded her seriously, but to Jeanne's relief he only nodded, and she made her escape.

She advised the head nurse she was taking her lunch break and made her way to the hospital cafeteria, trying to figure out what was troubling her so much. It wasn't just that he had asked how she was. She had already known he would probably ask that at some point, it was only the moment he'd chosen to do it that caught her by surprise. No, it was something else. His work colleagues. Not that anything about them bothered her as such, but, they all seemed to be such good friends. They seemed to really care and went out of their way to make sure Tony had company.

Especially Gibbs. How many bosses would be listed as the medical proxy for an employee? Let alone spend the night trying to sleep in an uncomfortable plastic chair? That went beyond the call of an employer-employee relationship. And Tony had apparently even stayed at his boss's home in the past.

The problem was, she'd gotten through the last few years by painting Tony as the uncaring bastard who had ruined her life. He had used her, tricked her and hurt her more than anyone else had ever done. He'd also caused her to discover that her father wasn't the upright businessman she'd always believed him to be. And despite whatever the official investigation had concluded, she'd never stopped believing that Tony might have been involved with her father's death.

But now she was being forced to see that Tony DiNozzo was not the heartless, soulless, careless beast she had made him out to be for so long. And so much depended on him being that. Her ability to cope with what had happened back then, when her world had started to fall apart over the course of a single day, all depended on laying the blame at the feet of a lying, manipulative con-man. If it wasn't for him, none of it would have happened. OK, so her father might not have been perfect, but she had loved him and he'd always done the right thing by her. He was supportive and loving and all the things a father should be. Tony, on the other hand, had lied outright from the very first time they'd met and he'd introduced himself. And _that_ was unforgivable.

She took a deep breathe, suddenly realising she was gripping her coffee cup tightly. She forced herself to relax, and breathe, until her heart stopped pounding in her chest and she felt her emotional balance reassert itself. Not much longer, she thought. Ducky would talk to Tony's boss and they would get him out of here tomorrow. One more day. She would be professional and courteous for one more day, and then this nightmare would be over again.

* * *

The afternoon was quiet. Somehow, Jeanne had managed to get a ward full of patients who were stable and calm and responding well to their treatments. Normally this was the stuff of fantasies in a hospital, and the nurses on the ward were exceptionally cheerful about it. For Jeanne though, it couldn't have come at a worse time. It gave her too much spare time for thinking.

She did her rounds again, checking medications and dosages and vital statistics. She hovered around the nurses station, catching up on paperwork. She observed as a number of people dropped in to see Tony, and started overhearing names to go with faces. She already knew Gibbs and Ducky, and the other woman Tony had called "Zeevah" or something like that. From the name and the accent, if not her looks, the woman was obviously foreign, but Jeanne wasn't able to pick the nationality with any certainty. She stayed for about an hour and a half before leaving again.

The goth girl and the young, plain clothes man were Abby and Palmer. They came by early in the afternoon, though Palmer didn't stay long before he left with Ducky. Abby stayed, having announced just as Jeanne was passing by that she'd gotten almost everything done and then convinced Gibbs she didn't need to stay in the lab, since the only tests still running wouldn't be ready for some hours anyway. Over the afternoon she caught snippets of laughter and conversation, and remembered the girl referring to Tony as a brother. They were certainly very comfortable friends.

Later in the afternoon Gibbs and the younger agent arrived. Tony greeted them as 'Boss' and 'Probie'. Jeanne was confused by the lack of consistency in the names - the girls were known by their first names, Gibbs and Palmer by their surnames, and Ducky and Probie by nicknames? At least, she assumed 'Probie' was a nickname of some sort. That question was soon answered when she heard Gibbs call him 'McGee'.

Shortly after Gibbs and McGee arrived, she stopped in to check on him again. She'd have preferred a smaller audience, but it had been four hours since the dressings on Tony's back had been changed and her shift was finishing soon. Abby was saying something when Jeanne entered but the sentence faded unfinished.

"Sorry to interrupt. How are you feeling now, Tony?" she asked.

He shrugged, then winced as the movement pulled at the skin on his back. "Not too bad."

"On the scale of one to ten?" she asked.

"My back is still around five or six. My arm is down to four or five, and it's stayed that way most of the afternoon."

She nodded, pleased. Most patients couldn't answer that question so concisely; then again, Tony had apparently had more practice than most. "And the headache?"

"Pretty much gone, unless I turn my head too fast, or laugh too much." He sent a mock glare in Abby's direction.

Jeanne nodded again and made a note on the clipboard. "Have you discussed plans for tomorrow?" She glanced at Gibbs then back at Tony.

Tony hesitated but Gibbs jumped in. "He'll be staying with me."

Tony immediately protested. "Boss, you don't have to-"

"DiNozzo." That one, gruff word was a command and Tony obligingly gave up.

"Thanks Boss," he mumbled.

"OK, well I'm going to change his dressings now, so you might as well watch so you know what to do," Jeanne said, glancing at Gibbs.

"Uh, do you want us to leave?" McGee asked.

Jeanne shrugged. "It's up to Tony."

Tony shrugged as well, but Abby pulled McGee up anyway. "Come on, let's go get a treat from the cafe."

Tony shifted forward on the bed and leaned forward to give Jeanne better access. Gibbs stood on the other side as Jeanne carefully removed the old dressings. She washed his back with a saline solution before applying more of the cooling gel, trying hard not to think about the last time she had run her hands over Tony's back, or about how close she was standing to him now. Tony, for his part, was a perfect gentleman and a perfect patient. He gave no indication that any such thoughts troubled him. Well of course not, she thought angrily. He was the one who had never really loved her anyway.

Tony yelped and she jumped guiltily. She'd lost focus and pressed harder on his back than she meant to. "Sorry," she murmured, before finishing up and reaching for the fresh wound dressings. She was certain, without looking, that Gibbs was watching her carefully. It took all her courage and focus to finish the task without hesitating or glancing up at Tony's imposing boss.

A minute later she was done. She gathered up the dirty dressings and escaped from the room. So much for remaining aloof and professional! She berated herself as she disposed of the soiled dressings and headed back to the nurses station. She busied herself with paperwork for the last few minutes, making sure everything was in order for the night shift.

When the clocked ticked over she grabbed her bag with relief and hurried out of the ward. She took the elevator down to the ground floor and was walking along to the main exit when she saw Abby and McGee heading towards her. Ziva had joined them now, and they were heading back up to Tony's ward.

"Finished for today, doctor?" smiled Abby. Jeanne pasted on her best polite smile and nodded as they passed.

She had just let out a relieved breath when she heard Ziva call back "Dr Benoit?" She considered pretending not to have heard, but she had already failed at being professional once today, and decided she didn't need to add to that. She turned.

Ziva waved the other two on ahead and walked back to meet Jeanne. "I just wanted to say thank you." The confusion must have shown on Jeanne's face, because Ziva quickly hurried to explain. "For treating Tony so well, after... everything."

Jeanne shook her head, and tried not to think about her slip up only minutes ago. "I've treated him the same as any other patient."

"Exactly," Ziva agreed. "I cannot imagine that it is easy, but I can assure you, Tony appreciates it. We all do."

There was a pause before Jeanne nodded in acknowledgement. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, doctor." They went their separate ways and Jeanne finally made it out to her car. She thought about the bottle of wine waiting at home - she would need it tonight. She couldn't wait for Tony to be discharged tomorrow. The sooner this was over, the better.

* * *

The next morning started out much the same as the first. Jeanne heard that Gibbs had spent the night with Tony again, and McGee and Abby had arrived around breakfast time with coffee. Gibbs and Abby had then left, presumably for work, with McGee remaining behind.

When she stopped by Tony's room on her rounds, she found them discussing cars, and had to prevent herself rolling her eyes at the typical male subject matter.

"How are you feeling this morning, Tony? I see you didn't ask for any extra pain relief last night?"

Tony smiled, one of his big, infectious grins. "Much better, thank you. So I can go home today, right?"

"Pain, on the scale?" she asked.

"Arm around four, the back.. I guess it'd still be a five."

She raised a disbelieving eyebrow. "Your back pain hasn't lessened and you consider yourself 'much better'?"

Tony looked sheepish and McGee smirked. "He'll say anything if it means he can get out of here."

"You hate hospitals that much?" There was a note of uncertainty in her voice that she failed to hide properly. She couldn't help but wonder if their history had anything to do with it.

"It's not the hospital itself," said Tony quickly, obviously wanting to reassure her. "It's being a patient in one. Makes me feel like I'm chained to the bed, and I get restless. Especially since..." he trailed off and shuddered slightly.

"Since the plague," Jeanne finished softly. Tony nodded, and even McGee was grimacing at the unpleasant memories. Well, that was understandable. She took a breath and continued with a lighter tone. "Well, I'll have a look at your back when I change the dressings shortly, but unless there's any problems there we didn't foresee, we can get you discharged around lunchtime."

Tony visibly brightened and an easy smile fell across his face again. God, how she had loved that smile. She excused herself quickly and went on with her rounds before her thoughts could continue in that direction.

Mid-morning, she returned and changed the dressings on Tony's back one last time. Everything was fine and beginning to show signs of healing, so she confirmed that Tony could indeed go home at lunchtime. Tony was delighted and his happiness was infectious; she and McGee found themselves unable to help smiling along with him.

"I'll call the boss and let him know," offered McGee. "Back in a minute." He headed out, pulling out his cellphone as he went.

"Jeanne," Tony began, and she was going to correct his use of her first name but he went on too quickly. "I heard Ziva spoke to you last night. I don't know what she wanted to say, but if it was inappropriate-"

"It wasn't," she assured him.

"She didn't threaten you or anything?"

Jeanne couldn't follow his train of thought. "No, of course not. Why would she?"

He shook his head. "No reason, Ziva can just... sometimes the subtleties of polite communication escape her. Not knowing what she could want to say to you, I just... worried."

Suddenly there was a commotion in the hallway, and voices shouting. Jeanne forgot the conversation and ran out to find an older man yelling at two nurses, who were trying to calm him down. One was holding a needle.

"Sir, we just need you to calm down, we're not trying to hurt you," the first nurse, Sue, was saying. The man was yelling and swearing and swinging his arms about as though trying to hit someone, although the nurses were sensibly staying out of range. Jeanne joined them.

"What happened?"

"Not sure," said the second nurse. "He's been fine all morning - but as soon as he spotted the needle in Sue's hand he went berserk, claimed we were trying to kill him. Maybe a phobia?"

"Phobias don't cause such aggressive reactions," said Jeanne, but her focus was already on how to best stop him. "Sue - what's in the needle?"

"Sedative," she responded. "He's supposed to be drowsy for his procedure."

The man was edging further down the hall, still yelling and lashing out at anything within reach. Jeanne realised he was getting close to the door of Tony's room, and saw Tony appear in the doorway. He motioned at her.

"Here, give me the needle," Jeanne said, getting Tony's idea. Sue passed it over and Jeanne moved away. At the same time Tony waved his good arm into the man's view.

"Hey man, what's going on?" he said, and the man turned towards Tony in surprise. Tony kept talking loudly and waving his arm in exaggerated fashion to keep the man's attention on him. Jeanne took the opportunity to come up behind them and jabbed the needle into the man's shoulder. He struggled and yelled profanities for a few seconds before the drug started to take effect, and then Jeanne and Tony both caught him and gently lowered him to sit against the door frame. The sedative didn't knock him out, but he was no longer violent, and merely continued to mumble incoherently to himself.

Jeanne stepped back in relief. "Thanks, Tony."

"Don't mention it." Jeanne heard a tightness in his voice and looked up to see him wince as he straightened.

"Tony? Dr Benoit? Is everything ok?" McGee was hurrying up the hallway towards them. Tony chuckled.

"You always miss out on all the fun, don't ya Probie?" McGee stopped a few feet from them, glancing between them and the man at their feet in confusion. Jeanne motioned to the two nurses who between them managed to get the man on his feet and stumbling back to his own room. She asked another to call psychiatric and get someone to come up and assess him ASAP.

"And as for you," she turned back to Tony. "I think I'm going to have to re-do those dressings again." Tony winced and nodded and turned back to his bed.

* * *

By the time Gibbs arrived with Ziva and Abby in tow, Tony's dressings had been fixed up again. The sudden movements involved in catching and lowering the man to the ground had done some minor damage - his skin had tiny tears in a few places where the burns had left it tight and inflexible. But they were only small, like scratches, and didn't need any specific treatment. The antiseptic properties of the burns cream would be plenty.

Jeanne fetched Tony's prescriptions for the creams and pain meds from the nurses station, and handed them over to Abby. Ziva grabbed Tony's bag, which he had packed and had ready hours ago. McGee and Gibbs stood either side of Tony, who was protesting that he didn't need their help. They stepped back slightly to let Tony walk out on his own, but were obviously ready to assist him at any moment.

Tony straightened and caught Jeanne's eye. "Thank you," he said sincerely.

"No, thank you, for earlier," she responded.

"Just doing my job."

"As was I."

She offered a small, polite smile. Tony nodded and started down the hall, his entourage following. Barely three rooms down, he stumbled slightly, and a strong hand on each side caught his elbows. She bit back a smile as he groaned "I haven't walked this far in days..." and heard the teasing responses from his colleagues.

She suddenly realised Ziva was still standing beside her.

"Do you still blame him?" Ziva asked softly. Jeanne was caught out by the blunt question and it took a minute before she could respond.

"I don't know," she replied honestly. They watched Tony's slow progress down the hall. Jeanne had hated him for so long it was just a normal part of life - but the last two days had forced her to see him as a human again, not just a monster. A man who, whilst far from perfect, was not evil either.

"He is lucky to have such a loyal group of friends," she said eventually.

Ziva shrugged. "We are a team."

"It seems like more than that," she observed, and was gratified when Ziva tipped her head in acknowledgement.

"We have been through some... difficult... times, together. It creates a bond, like family. But stronger, I think." Ziva hesitated. "I think... it is a shame, you and Tony did not meet under different circumstances. You made him happy."

Ziva walked away then, leaving Jeanne surprised and speechless in her wake.

* * *

Later that night, she mulled over the events and emotions of the last few days. Previously she'd assumed that if she ever bumped into Tony again, she would simply walk away without a word and make sure it didn't happen a second time. As fate would have it, when he'd come into the hospital, walking away hadn't been an option. And having to treat him like any other person made her realise he _was_ like any other person. He had good qualities and he had faults. He could be annoying and egotistical but he was also loyal and funny. And brave, she thought, remembering the little boy who'd come in with barely a scratch on him, thanks to Tony's sacrifice.

She remembered all the good times, the dinners at fancy restaurants - sure, the charm and the restaurant might have been due to the job, but easy conversation can't be faked, and the willing ear when she'd had a bad day, the extra effort he'd gone to when she couldn't get away from work, and the little things he did to make her feel special - she had trouble believing all those qualities could be switched on and off on cue. Even a good actor would have trouble playing that kind of role for months on end. No, that had to have been at least part Tony. The real Tony.

Eventually, Jeanne came to the conclusion that she didn't hate him anymore. They would never be friends, even if they continued to see each other through their professional lives. There had been too much damage done, and she would rather not be reminded of it too often. But neither could she continue to see him as the enemy.

And with that thought, Jeanne realised she was finally ready to move on.


	2. Prologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK, so I know it's traditional to have the prologue _before_ the main story, but in this case I decided otherwise. I thought the story worked and flowed better when it was entirely from Jeanne's POV, so I decided this intro part wasn't needed. But then I also decided I liked this part, and that some of you might be interested to know what led to Tony's injuries, and the story of the little boy's rescue. So here it is: it's short and sweet, but if you want to read it, you're welcome to.

Gibbs sat across the table from the suspect in the stark interrogation room. His face was a stern glare but inside he was privately amused. He'd managed to goad the man into incriminating himself. The proud ones were always easy to get that way. Gibbs had picked him as the sort that would boast about his achievements, and he was right. A prod here, a slight insult there, and the guy had to defend his intelligence by giving away what he'd done. It'd almost been too easy, and the ball of anger in Gibb's gut settled in satisfaction as the man realised what he'd said.

"You might as well tell me the rest of it, then, don't you think?" suggested Gibbs calmly. "It's over now, anyway."

A sneer formed on the other man's face. "Oh, it's not over."

Gibbs' expression revealed nothing. "No?"

"Always gotta have a back up plan. In this case, a timer. Should I be prevented from manually detonating the bomb..." he casually glanced at his watch, and chuckled.

That ball in Gibb's gut suddenly froze solid. Within seconds he was out the door, ignoring the increasing laughter behind him. Ziva and Tim emerged from the observation room at the same time.

"Notifying the bomb squad, boss," said Tim quickly, phone already to his ear.

"Stay here to coordinate, McGee. David, with me." Gibbs brought his own phone up as they hurried to the elevators.

" _DiNozzo,_ " came the familiar voice on the other end of the line.

"The bomb is live and on a timer, get everyone out of there _now_."

* * *

Tony swore under his breath and hung up. The scene was a block of older flats, evacuated earlier but now various families were drifting back. No one had been allowed to go inside yet, despite the number of frustrated parents that had been asking. They wouldn't be until the bomb squad had arrived and dismantled the device in the basement, but once the man with the detonater had been arrested the need to keep people away from the building had lessened.

Tony acted immediately. He jumped onto the hood of the nearest police squad car and whistled loudly to get everyone's attention. "We have a live bomb. Evacuate the area NOW! I repeat! Evacuate the area, we have a live bomb! Evacuate!"

The three local LEO's who had been guarding the scene with him ran up as he jumped off their car. "You hear something we didn't?" asked one.

"Yeah, the bomb is on a timer, no idea how long it's got. I want the blockades back where they were earlier, and no one within 500 yards of this building." Tony knew how to take charge of a scene. The LEO's immediately headed for the nearest bystanders and started herding people away in a hurry. One of them intercepted a woman running towards the building, crying. She broke past him only to be grabbed by Tony.

"I can't let you go back there ma'am, it's not safe."

"But my Jonas, my son!"

Tony's blood ran cold as he held her shoulders and pushed her back to look at her properly. "Where is he?"

"I don't know, I think he tried to go home, he wanted to earlier, I thought he was at the playground but just now when I checked his friends said he'd gone home..."

"Where do you live? Which number?" Tony asked in desperation.

"Unit 21."

Tony passed the woman back to the LEO who'd tried to stop her. "I'll look for him - get her out of here." Without hesitation he turned and ran into the building, ducking under the police tape blocking the doorway. He ran up the stairs two at a time, adrenaline providing the extra boost to allow him to keep going after the first few floors. Units 13, 14, 15 and 16. His cell rang and he ignored it. Units 17, 18, 19 and 20. He flew up the last flight of stairs and wasn't sure whether to be relieved or dismayed that the door to Unit 21 was ajar. It meant the kid was probably here, but at least he wouldn't have to waste time standing at the door knocking.

He searched the apartment at breakneck speed. "Jonas? Jonas! Are you here?" He looked under and around furniture, ignoring his ringing cell phone again.

He entered the last room, a boy's bedroom. A boy of five or six was sitting on the bed with a dinosaur in hand. He looked at Tony fearfully. "Jonas! Come on, we gotta get out of here." He hurried across the room and tried to pick the boy up, but Jonas was having none of it. He screamed and kicked and flailed before bursting into tears, screaming for his mommy. "Jonas, it's alright, I'm going to take you to your Mom," Tony huffed, finally getting a grip on the boy and heading out the door. "Your Mommy's waiting for you outside Jonas, she's really worried, but we'll go straight to her, ok?" Tony thought he should keep talking - isn't that what you have to do to keep kids calm? - but he was out of breath and trying to run back down the stairs now. He was hurrying and still had plenty of adrenaline pumping but he didn't want to risk falling with the boy in his arms. Even still, heading downstairs was quicker than going up had been.

They made it to the ground floor, Tony intimately aware that every step had been taking him closer to the bomb in the basement. He had a split second to think that he might just pull this off when he heard it. A rumbling sound he knew too well. He threw himself towards the wall and the last thing he remembered was trying to cover Jonas' body with his own.


End file.
